George Zimmerman Is Missing According to Lawyer

On Tuesday, the attorneys representing George Zimmerman announced they have withdrawn as his legal counsel in the Trayvon Martin case. Their primary reason being they have not been in contact with him since Sunday.

Two days seems hardly cause for concern over a case that hasn’t even been filed yet. Nevertheless, the two attorneys, Sonner and Uhrig, do not feel comfortable proceeding as representatives for a client who will not return their calls, e-mails, and text messages.

Uhrig told Anderson Cooper on CNN’s AC360: “We believe in his case; we believe in his innocence. We were prepared to defend him all the way. But we simply cannot defend somebody who won’t communicate with us and who is off the reservation talking to people we’ve advised him not to talk to.”

In their press release announcing their withdrawal as legal counsel and interview with Anderson Cooper on AC360, Sonner and Uhrig portrayed George Zimmerman as unstable. This does nothing but add to the highly negative publicity of Zimmerman that has ensued since the night he shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012.

The Martin family attorney, Benjamin Crump, has voiced his concern that Zimmerman may be a flight risk. Sonner and Uhrig have admitted to not knowing the whereabouts of Zimmerman since they lost contact with him two days ago. They have however confirmed that he is not in Florida, primarily due to the high volume of hate mail and death threats.

Sonner and Uhrig went on speculate about the mental health of Zimmerman, even though they have not met with their former client in person. Uhrig thinks he Zimmerman is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It was also indicated that PST might be used in the defense case.

While a legal team reserves the right to drop a case they do not feel comfortable serving as representative, the method do to so is not through a blast in the media. They should have quietly stepped down without complicating an already controversial, complex case.

Special prosecutor Angela Corey announced that she would hold a news conference about the case within 72 hours, offering hope to the Martin family that they will soon see justice for their son. She has yet to file charges against Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin, which he claims was in self-defense and has caused uproar throughout the country.